System and method for broadcasting data over a computer network

• US 8,954,509 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2003
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hodson, David, Farros, Royal P., Rubin, Michael, Bell, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
• Application Number:
  US10/666,767
• Time in Patent Office: 4,163 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information

Abstract

A system and method for broadcasting data in the form of instant messages over a computer network. The broadcast system 100 preferably includes a messaging manager 200, an integration engine 300, a subscription manager 400, a scheduler 500, and a broadcast engine 600. The messaging manager 200 interfaces with all other components and provides a multi-threaded, run-time engine that coordinates the integration, triggering, scheduling, and message delivery activities for scalable broadcast applications. The integration engine 300 provides a system for “exposing” Web services and “consuming” external data streams. The subscription manager 400 includes an event watcher, which monitors the state of the external environment it interacts with, and an event dispatcher, which collects event subscriptions and ensures the instant delivery of events to all subscribers by way of the broadcast engine. The scheduler 500 allows users to customize the system 100 in order to schedule outgoing messages through the broadcast engine. The broadcast engine 600 enhances the inherent limitations of current IM technology by providing a multi-threaded broadcasting engine capable of sending volumes of messages from one server to literally thousands of IM clients concurrently over different private and public networks in one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many formats.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing an interface for an author to create a publication;

providing an interface to add subscribers to the publication;

providing an interface to set a schedule for delivering the publication to the subscribers, wherein the subscribers are from a plurality of disparate networks and are described by data within a centrally managed directory, and wherein the schedule for delivering the publication is determined based at least in part on;

a parameter for determining an online presence of one or more of the subscribers described by the centrally managed directory; and

consuming, according to a predetermined schedule, a Web service to receive a data stream upon which the publication is based, wherein the Web service is identified via the interface for the author to create the publication by;

indicating a location of a document that describes the Web service; and

providing required authentication information of the author to consume the Web service; and

delivering the publication across the plurality of disparate networks to the one or more of the subscribers based at least in part on the data stream and the respective online presence of the one or more of the subscribers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the publication is delivered in the form of Instant Messages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface for the author to create the publication allows the author to create the publication by:

creating a subscription group defining the subscribers;

defining a format in which data will be received by the subscribers, wherein the format comprises a delivery mechanism selected from the group consisting of Instant Message, email, and voice; and

defining the predetermined schedule for consuming the Web service.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the data stream to one or more parameters for triggering a broadcast; and

wherein data is broadcast to the subscribers only if at least one of the one or more parameters have been met.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the interface for the author to create the publication allows the author to create the publication by:

creating a subscription group defining the subscribers;

defining a format in which data will be received by the subscribers;

defining the predetermined schedule for consuming the Web service; and

defining the one or more parameters for triggering the broadcast.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the interface to add the subscribers to the publication includes providing an interface for users to individually subscribe to and unsubscribe from the publication.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the interface to add the subscribers allows the users to individually subscribe to and unsubscribe from the publication via a subscription Web service.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the interface to add the subscribers further allows the users to individually modify subscription parameters including delivery endpoint and delivery method, and user modifiable delivery methods comprise Instant Messaging, email, and voice.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising authenticating the users by integrating with one or more third party authentication services.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more third party authentication services comprises at least one proprietary authentication system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the interface to add the subscribers to the publication includes providing an interface for the author to add users to the publication.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising integrating with one or more third party subscription management services to subscribe users.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more third party subscription management services comprises at least one proprietary subscription management service.

14. One or more storage devices having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, direct one or more computers to send data over a computer network via operations comprising:

generating a subscription interface useable by a plurality of users connected via disparate networks to subscribe to a publication;

generating a plurality of interfaces usable by an author to create and schedule sending of the publication over the disparate networks to the plurality of users, the plurality of interfaces comprising;

a publication creation interface useable by the author to create the publication; and

a scheduler interface through which the author can create a publication schedule for the publication by;

consuming an existing Web service to use as a trigger for sending the publication to the plurality of users, wherein the existing Web service is consumed by providing a location of a document that describes the existing Web service, the document comprising a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) document;

providing authentication information that permits use of the existing Web service; and

defining criterion that, when obtained by monitoring the existing Web service, triggers sending the publication;

monitoring the existing Web service for the criterion; and

sending the publication to one or more of the plurality of users when a parameter indicates the respective one or more of the plurality of users are online.

15. One or storage devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the publication is sent via an Instant Message.

16. One or storage devices as recited in claim 15, wherein the publication is sent in a user-defined Instant Message format.

17. One or storage devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the criterion comprises a configurable time having past since a previous sending of the publication.

18. One or storage devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the plurality of interfaces guide creating the publication via actions comprising:

creating a subscription group defining the plurality of users authorized to subscribe to the publication;

defining a format in which the publication will be received by the plurality of users, wherein the format comprises one selected from the group consisting of Instant Message, email, and voice; and

defining a schedule for consuming the existing Web service.

19. A method comprising:

providing a first Web Service enabling delivery of a message to a plurality of disparate messaging clients across a plurality of disparate networks;

providing a Web-based self-managing publish/subscribe mechanism for an author to create a publication and a user to subscribe to the publication;

enabling a point and consume interface, the point and consume interface enabling retrieval of a web services description language (WSDL) document describing a second Web service, and the point and consume interface offering a consumable data stream as one or more of content or a trigger mechanism for the publication;

determining a schedule for delivering the publication to subscribed users based at least on consuming the data stream;

integrating the first Web service with at least one system comprising;

remote authentication systems including one or more proprietary authentication systems;

third party subscription management systems including one or more proprietary subscription management systems;

or

enterprise instant message (EIM) products including one or more proprietary EIM products;

integrating the first Web service with a plurality of protocols including one or more of session initiation protocol (SIP) or extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP);

delivering, via the first Web service and across the plurality of disparate networks to the plurality of disparate messaging clients, an Instant Message associated with the publication to the user subscribed.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the first Web service is configured such that individual subscribed users select a publication delivery method, wherein the publication delivery method comprises at least one of Instant Messaging, email, and voice.

21. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the first Web service is configured such that the author selects a publication delivery mechanism, wherein the publication delivery mechanism comprises at least one of Instant Messaging, email, and voice.